Arbitration Committee Newsletter: August 2026
Arbitration Committee Newsletter: July 2026
Message from the Co-Chairs
Kate Brown de Vejar, Dietmar W. Prager and Patricia Saiz
First and foremost, we look forward to seeing many of you at the IBA Annual Conference in Copenhagen on 4-9 October 2026. Don’t forget to sign up for the Arbitration Committee reception and dinner on the Wednesday night (it requires a separate ticket, and they sell out FAST!). Also, a reminder that our second Town Hall for this year (or 'Open Business Meeting') will be held at lunchtime on the Wednesday at the conference venue. See below for a sneak peak of the programme.
Second, the dates have changed for the 2027 Arbitration Day in Vienna entitled 'The importance of soft law instruments in international arbitration: mezzo forte, diminuendo or vigoroso?' The Town Hall meeting will be on Thursday 22 April 2027, followed by the Opening Reception at Palais Pallavicini. The Arbitration Day will be held at the Austria Centre on Friday 23 April 2027. So, please plan your travel accordingly. And don’t forget to watch out for our IBA Arbitration Day Scholarship call for applications, to be published in August 2026.
Annual Conference Copenhagen: Arbitration Committee sessions
The Arbitration Committee has a full and impressive line-up of sessions – highlights include:
- Arbitration of disputes in the defence sector: benefits and challenges, with contributions from Dirk Pulkowski (NATO) and Gabby Costigan (BAE Systems Plc) on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at 11:15-12:30 CET. This panel will discuss the growth of private military contracting, the emergence of advanced cyber defence technologies, including AI systems, and what it means for disputes in the sector.
- Investor-state dispute settlement: what’s new and what’s cooking? Experts including Veijo Heiskanen (Arbitra International) and Johanna Klein Kranenberg (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile) shall discuss the recent developments in investment arbitration and treaty practice on Thursday, 8 October 2026 at 11:15-12:30 CET.
- Arbitrator ethics: towards a modern global framework
- Arbitral institutions leading the way – their role in influencing the development of arbitration practice
- Is arbitration a victim of its own success – arbitration’s impact on quality and availability of relevant jurisprudence and procedural know-how
- AI disputes: what are they, where do they arise and what challenges do they pose?
- Judges as neutrals: the role of sitting judges in arbitration and mediation
- Our traditional ‘Hot topics’ panel.
The Arbitration Committee Open Business Meeting will take place on Wednesday, 7 October 2026 at 12:30-14:30 CET, with the Arbitration Committee reception and dinner on the same day. Tickets for the dinner can be purchased here.
IBA Annual Conference Arbitration Committee Scholarship
We are delighted to announce that the 2026 Scholar is Anirudh Singh from C&S Partners, Delhi. His thought-provoking essay, 'Is Arbitration a Victim of Its Own Success?', impressed the selection committee and offers a fresh perspective on one of the most pressing debates in international arbitration today. Learn more about Anirudh here.
Featured new and ongoing projects
Investment Arbitration Subcommittee:
‘The Report and Recommendations on Third-Party Participation in Investment Arbitration’ was published in June 2026 and addresses third-party participation – an increasingly common feature of investor–state dispute settlement.
Arbitration Committee podcast series
Flashback to our first podcast featuring Angeline Welsh, Philippe Pinsolle and Emmanuel Jacomy, entitled ‘Due process paranoia in arbitration’, which discusses the IBA report on The Annulment of Arbitral Awards by State Courts here. Please send any suggestions for topics to Thomas Voisin
Nationality of arbitrators
The IBA Task Force on The Nationality of the Arbitrator as a Proxy for Independence and Impartiality is exploring the relevance and role that arbitrator nationality continues to play in perceptions of independence and impartiality in international arbitration. A short update on their activities can be found here. The Task Force Co-Chairs are currently leading roundtable discussions.
News from the IBA Arb40 Subcommittee
On 13 April 2026, during the ICCA Congress in Madrid, the IBA Arb40 Subcommittee hosted a breakfast session titled 'Mining in Africa: Practical Perspectives on International Arbitration' at the offices of Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, with the support of Compass Lexecon and AfricArb. The session opened with a keynote by Aisha Abdallah (Partner, ALN Kenya) on how the global energy transition is reshaping Africa’s mining landscape. The keynote can be found here.
A panel discussion followed, moderated by Steering Committee member Munia El Harti Alonso, with Rocío Chacón (Senior Legal Counsel, Cox Energy), Nelia Daniel Dias (Senior Vice-Chair, IBA Oil & Gas Committee, Luanda), Pape Mamadou Fall (Legal Advisor and Head of the Hydrocarbons Department, Ministry of Energy, Petroleum and Mines, Senegal) and Benjamin Roux (Senior Vice President, Compass Lexecon).
The discussion covered the surge in demand for transition minerals, Africa’s position in global supply chains, host states’ value-addition policies — local content requirements, export restrictions on unprocessed minerals and beneficiation mandates — and the geopolitical competition for access to African resources. The main takeaway: regulatory reform across African mining jurisdictions is shifting project risk and generating a new wave of policy-driven disputes, and investors who engage with host states’ development objectives will be better placed to navigate the change.
In May 2026, the new IBA Arb40 Subcommittee Co-Chairs, Julio Rivera Ríos (Rivera García, Mexico City) and Joel Quek (WongPartnership, Singapore) renewed and expanded the Steering Committee.
The new steering committee members are: Munia El Harti Alonso, disputes and energy lawyer and PhD candidate at University Complutense of Madrid; Christoph Murphy, managing associate at Sidley Austin in Hong Kong; Juhi Mathur, partner at Trilegal in Mumbai; Hyung Won (Eric) Nahm, partner at Yulchon in Seoul; Usama Munir, senior associate and co-head of international arbitration at Schluter Graf in Dubai; Katie Gonzalez, partner at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York; Katie Connolly, senior associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in San Francisco; Stanley U Nweke-Eze, managing counsel at Templars in Lagos; Sergio Nascimento, partner at Sergio Bermudes Advogados in Sao Paulo; and Eden Jardine, senior associate at Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Sydney.
Continuing members starting a second-year mandate are: Glenn Gibson, partner at Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) in Toronto; Mariana Gomez-Vallin, associate at Von Wobeser y Sierra in Mexico City; Wohan Meintjes, partner at Bowmans in Johannesburg; Baptiste Rigaudeau, partner at LeadUp Avocats in Paris; Inyene Robert, partner at Aluko & Oyebode in Lagos; Simona Valkova, independent tribunal secretary and teaching fellow at the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London.
News from the IBA Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Subcommittee
The IBA Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Subcommittee has started a series of webinars:
- Episode 1 'Emerging developments in the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards: corruption allegations at enforcement and set-aside stages' was held on 18 June 2026. The recording is available here.
- Episode 2 'Recognition and enforcement of annulled awards: a comparative approach across jurisdictions and strategic considerations' was held on 13 July 2026. This session explored the complexities of recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards annulled at the seat. The recording is available here.
Okan Demirkan and Emilio Bettoni will be organising the next webinar after the summer break, with Episode 3 on the enforcement of intra-EU ISDS awards.
Soft Law Instrument Master Classes
The Arbitration Committee continues to deliver master classes on each of the Committee’s soft law instruments, to encourage uniform implementation and assist the adoption of best practices globally.
Masterclasses on the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest will be held on:
- 8 September 2026 (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
- 10 September 2026 (Almaty, Kazakhstan)
- 12 September 2026 (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
For more information, please contact Olena.Perepelynska@impactalaw.com
Masterclasses on the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest will take place during the first week of November (exact dates to be confirmed), in Ethiopia and Nigeria respectively. The latter will be organised in collaboration with the Corporate Counsel Committee of CIArb Nigeria.
For more information, please contact Hamid.Abdulkareem@threecrownsllp.com and leyou@iarbafrica.com
Upcoming conferences and events
Ethical issues in the discovery and production of documents in international arbitration
08 Sep 2026 1300 - 1400 BST
Webinar
IBA Arb40 Symposium − Raising the bar: designing accountability for the next generation of international arbitration
04 Oct 2026
Copenhagen, Denmark
